‘Solidarity’ and ‘Gender Equality’ as a Discourse of Violence in Sweden: Exclusion of Refugees by the Decent Citizen

The Swedish national myth of ‘solidarity’ regarding refugee resettlement, as well as exceptionalism regarding gender equality and models of ‘good parenting’, ignores the way in which such an identity can enable biopolitical categorizations of the population at an anthropological level in day-to-day life. In terms of asylum policy regarding the ongoing civil war in Syria, Sweden’s ‘generous’ position vis-à-vis other European states has enabled the nation to regain its ‘moral superpower’ image of the 1970s. As the European Union (EU) member state receiving by far the most Syrian refugees¹ and the first European nation to offer automatic permanent residency and